How to play street bingo with bicycles

By Christina Bengston

Up and down the country neighbourhoods are entertaining themselves with street bingo sessions to get them through quiet lockdown evenings. It has become a great way for folks to socialise with their neighbours at a safe distance and if you have a bike you can make it even more fun to play.

It’s a simple idea of getting bingo cards to each household on the street with instructions to gather at a certain time outside their home with chairs, blankets, refreshments and a saucepan and wooden spoon. The saucepan and wooden spoon, of course, is to bang on when someone gets a full card of numbers. Prizes vary, but inevitably include a few rolls of toilet paper, wine and chocolate.

One of the big challenges in street bingo is how do people find out what numbers are being called? This is where bikes come in. In the wee village of Gargunnock, just outside Stirling, a new form of street bingo has been making the rounds. Since no one is kitted out with a PA to announce the numbers, the caller shouts out the numbers to a team of cyclists (young and old) who pedal up and down the street shouting the numbers to the participants along the street. When a whole card of numbers is filled the winner bangs on a pot with their wooden spoon.

Gargunnock resident Karen Leask explained: "We had a go last Friday night, just about the whole street came out to participate and we had great fun. Although it was hard work pedalling up and down the street for an hour until someone’s card got filled."

In these isolating times all it takes to find a bit of street entertainment is a bunch of bingo cards, a caller, a pot and wooden spoon and a few bikes. Try calling Number 81 – Cycling Fun (if you turn 81 on its side and squint a bit it does look like a bicycle… a bit…)

Host your own street bingo

What do you need:

One household to host the event
A bingo card sheet for each house on your street (printable 1-75 number bingo cards available)
Invites and bingo cards delivered a few days before
A way to draw numbers from 1 to 75 and tick off sheet.
Prize – (toilet paper, chocolate and wine are proving very popular)
Cyclists to ride up and down the street calling numbers

What people on your street need:

Safe distance on the pavement from their neighbours
Bingo sheet and pen
Chairs and blankets
Refreshments
Saucepan and wooden spoon

Format:

Set a start time. Early evening on a Friday or Saturday is good.

It can take up to about an hour for someone to fill up a sheet of full numbers (2 numbers plus free space).

Start drawing the numbers and shout them to the cyclists. When they return from each round shout out the next number. Here's a list of bingo calling phrases. Remind them to keep 2 metres away from those not living in their household.

When someone crosses out all the numbers on their bingo sheet, they bang their wooden spoon on their sauce pan.

Prize awarded from a safe distance.

It doesn’t have to be a long game or more than one game. One round seems to fine for everyone to get out and have a bit of fun.